Description

English-born Francis Asbury was one of the most important religious leaders in American history. Asbury single-handedly guided the creation of the American Methodist church, which became the largest Protestant denomination in nineteenth-century America, and laid the foundation of the Holiness and Pentecostal movements that flourish today. John Wigger has written the definitive biography of Asbury and, by extension, a revealing interpretation of the early years of the Methodist movement in America. Asbury emerges here as not merely an influential religious leader, but a fascinating character, who lived an extraordinary life. His cultural sensitivity was matched only by his ability to organize. His life of prayer and voluntary poverty were legendary, as was his generosity to the poor. He had a remarkable ability to connect with ordinary people, and he met with thousands of them as he crisscrossed the nation, riding more than one hundred and thirty thousand miles between his arrival in America in 1771 and his death in 1816. Indeed Wigger notes that Asbury was more recognized face-to-face than any other American of his day, including Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.show more

Review quote

[a] masterful, nuanced portrait * Charles Wallace, Journal of American Studies * American Saint is a lively and engaging read. Wigger is an excellent writer and the book is written in a style accessible to non-academics...comprehensive and meticulously researched...the finest biography ever written on Asbury and it should be owned by any student, scholar, or layperson with an interest in Methodist or-for that matter-early American history. * Michael K. Turner, Wesley and Methodist Studies *show more

About John Wigger

John Wigger is Associate Professor of History at the University of Missouri.show more